Looks great Marty. Are the top braces going to stay that tall? They look pretty beefy to me, but I'm no expert on acoustics.

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Thanks. The tallest one is 3/4" in front of the bridge... I'm tapering them out with a small plane. I need to get a chisel sharpened too. I think the smaller size of the top makes the braces look bigger than they are. Here's a link to one guy's bracing process.

In case you looked at the link and did not take note , you will see that the bridge plate is not quartersawn . This is intentional and desired because it tends to assist in not allowing cracks to develop . Also take note to the accurate fitment of the bracing , the shaping of the bracing through scalloping , tapering and smoothing . The scalloping reduces mass , the tapering and smoothing reduce stresses in the bracing . You see no hard edges or angles . Some will use 2 tone bars on the lower bout and some will use only 1 . Some believe that when using 2 tone bars that they should not be parallel to each other but not very much off parallel either . Even straight bracing is smoothed to reduce stress in the bracing . Yes , this is the same theory used in automotive engine components of polishing to reduce stress points on , for example , connecting rods . That is a very nice looking underside of an acoustic top .